The Football News Thread 2024/25

[The Bear]

That's exactly what happens when you let your Director Of Football negotiate new signing contracts in Football Manager.

 

[jlo]

Nice work if you can get it, but who really needs that much money for kicking a ball about View attachment 14130

Wonder what the 16 people working for him are being paid...

 

[1986]

John Giles retired from football punditry yesterday at the ripe old age of 84 . He had spent years as a pundit with RTE , as well as writing weekly columns on the print media .
He then left RTE and joined up with a new Football show called ' Off the Ball ' on Newstalk and had a weekly slot on that .

All of the above of course was preceded by a long and lengthy career as a Footballer and Manager . Giles squeezed a lot into his life .

I always loved listening to him . He cut through all the nonsense and would get straight to the heart of the matter . He never suffered fools and had little time for instance for the antics of Ronaldo , and called that out at an early stage .
Most of all however he kept emphasizing that Football was a simple game , and that if you watched the great players they rarely complicated matters .
He would often say that the best midfielders are the ones that always look for the ball , always look to control the play from several areas of the pitch , as opposed to just sitting in or around the same area ( Neves comes to mind ) , ' get it and give it ' as he would say .

He'll be missed , and even at 84 years old he could match a fair chunk of what's out there now and who classify themselves as pundits .

Interestingly , he never had any issue with the money that players earn today , comparing it instead to how clubs treated played back in the 1950s and 1960s , often referencing the Manchester United players who survived the Munich Air crash and how they were treated by the club afterwards once they returned ( which apparently was quite poor ) .
He would also often contrast the treatment of injured players today versus before - using Matt Busby as an example . Great Manager that he was , but Busby was only ever interested in the players that were fit , and Giles maintained that back then an injured player was forgotten about pretty much and not really given the full help they needed .

Giles - always interesting , you'd never feel the time go by when he was talking .

 

[Kenny]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1939656197499699637

 

[Quirkafleeg]

Jonny Evans appointed Loans manager and Toilet Scrubber and Pre Match Clown for corporate for the new season at Yanited.

 

[Jack Regan]

Sheffield Wednesday face EFL action and possible walkout after failing to pay players

Sheffield Wednesday are facing further disciplinary action from the EFL and a possible walkout of players after failing to pay all the squad’s wages for the third time in four months

www.theguardian.com

 

[Kenny]

Looks like Eze is off to Arsenal

 

[Tredman]

Looks like Eze is off to Arsenal

Good move for both I think.

 

[YoungWolf]

They released him at 12 too!

 

[Squeak]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1939656197499699637

Corrupt as fuck this game and there's not even an attempt to cover it up. I see Chelsea sold their women's team for £198.7m so they could have more buying power this Summer. It's complete bollocks.

 

[Del Woppio]

It is an absolute outrage tbh. Football can fuck off

 

[Kenny]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1940844565206126981

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Three window ban (except freebies under a certain wage), same as Wednesday

 

[Alan]

Things really can’t continue this way. Clubs are going to start shriveling up. It’ll be the ESL by a thousand cuts.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

They won't though, the authorities don't let well-established clubs go to the wall. Portsmouth should have gone 15 years ago and didn't, any business operating as Reading did for years under Live Fast, Dai Yongge would have been wound up multiple times over but it didn't happen. Blues too limped on as a zombie club for the thick end of a decade. I think Rotherham have been through three or four administrations.

By rights they should, but they don't. What needs to happen is legislation drafted to say that if you run the club like a shitshow and brazenly don't pay people, the league (be it PL, EFL or National League) can automatically take it off your hands without recompense and invoke a sale to someone who isn't a wanker.

 

[Alan]

That’s fair enough, but even if they don’t fold, it seems like they’re never the same again. Either way it’s bad for everyone.

The more pressing problem, it seems to me, is that so many clubs outside of the PL have to spend wild amounts of money just to try to not be embarrassed. I’d need someone with hard numbers and very good forensic skills to convince me that the financial gap between the PL and Champ is at all sustainable or desirable.

Obviously, forgiveness for straight up not paying wages is not what I’m advocating for. As you say, shit owners who pull that sort of thing ought be thrown out immediately.

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

Leicester were transformed into title winners for a start after almost folding.

Fit and proper and the gulf in finances are the issues.

 

[Alan]

I mean, there’s a lot to unpack with Leicester, but for me it’s enough that they’ve gone from that to where they are now. Even after winning the title, everyone knew Kante and Mahrez wouldn’t stay. That trophy couldn’t put them in financial competition with City and Chelsea.

No club outside those rich few has anything like a chance to sustain the successes they do achieve.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

They should have made the CL under Brodge a couple of times tbf and bottled it.

Won the FA Cup too.

 

[YoungWolf]

Partey charged with 5 counts of rape